


conciliations

by spookykingdomstarlight



Category: Star Wars (Marvel Comics), Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Bickering, Domestic, Dubiously Redeemed Villain, Emotional Constipation, Established Relationship, M/M, Minor Injuries, Post-Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-18
Updated: 2017-01-18
Packaged: 2018-09-18 11:06:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9381743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spookykingdomstarlight/pseuds/spookykingdomstarlight
Summary: Terex stared up atBlack Oneand decided that Poe was full of shit and Terex should never have gotten involved with him. For one thing, turning his criminal enterprises into a network of information brokers had been—okay, they were already a network of information brokers, so that part hadn’t been hard, but turning them from what would bring him a profit or put him one up on powerful people toward what would bring him positive approval from Poe and an invitation to continue working with the Resistance?Thathad proved difficult and time consuming. And right now he wasn’t even sure it was worth it.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [perlaret](https://archiveofourown.org/users/perlaret/gifts).



“Babe, come on,” Poe said, grabbing Terex by the arm to drag him away from the stack of flimsies C-3PO had analyzed and returned to him. And when Terex went to reach for them, Poe slapped his palm against the desk—Poe’s desk, in fact, since General Organa wouldn’t give Terex one and Terex refused to work anywhere without one and Poe refused to work anywhere _with_ one—and shook his head. “Nuh uh. I don’t think so, pal.”

“Pardon me,” Terex replied, more than a little irked at the interruption and the inexplicable use of babe. “I didn’t realize the First Order was a threat that could wait for—why are you here exactly?”

Were Poe’s eyebrow not attached to his face, it might’ve left the stratosphere with how high it climbed his forehead. But as the thing was forehead-bound, it didn’t reach quite such impressive heights as that. “It’s second shift.” He glanced at the chronometer that hung, dusty and sad, on the wall of his office. “Has been for about two hours now.”

“And what did you call me?” Terex, of course, knew the answer already, but he needed to hear it again. For verification purposes.

Now Poe’s eyebrows furrowed and wrinkled his forehead in a way that shouldn’t have been attractive, especially not when combined with the pinched twist of his mouth. Sour. It was a sour expression. And Terex could have looked at it for ages all the same if Poe let him. It was soothing knowing he’d put it there.

Poe didn’t let him, of course.

Instead, rounding the back of Terex’s chair, he clapped Terex on both shoulders and squeezed, his thumbs digging in hard on either side of his spine. It felt good, relieving an ache he hadn’t realized he was carrying, warmth seeping into his skin through Poe’s palms. Poe’s breath brushed past his cheek as he leaned in. Curling wisps of his hair tickled at Terex’s ear. “This whole ‘studiously screwing the guys who screwed you’ thing has done wonders for Resistance intelligence. And I’m grateful for that, not least of all because it gives me an almost acceptable reason to be attracted to you, but you need a break if you had trouble hearing what I said.”

“You called me babe.” Terex tried not to feel anything about the rest of what Poe had said. He… failed.

“I did. It’s a term of endear—”

“Don’t call me that.”

And like those words were some kind of magic trick, Poe disappeared. Or his hands did anyway. The rest of him plus those hands found their way to the other side of the desk, which was less impressive on the whole of it. From that vantage point, Poe stared down at Terex with the light of an avenging angel brought forth all the way from Iego to punish Terex for his one flaw in life.

But it was so easy to demand that Poe bend to his will. Terex couldn’t help trying.

And just as easily, Poe to immediately and completely disregarded Terex’s demand in turn.

If Terex wasn’t as bantha-headed and stubborn as he was, he’d have winced in the face of Poe’s obvious delight at this turn of events. But no, he would take his lumps like a man and doubled down, tipping his chin up in challenge. Yes, he’d told Poe not to do something. And no, he wasn’t scared of what Poe would do now because of it.

Poe stretched across the desk, hands braced on the flimsies in such a way that they slipped into disarray beneath his fingers. Gleeful didn’t begin to explain his smile and when he pressed a kiss against Terex’s lips, all Terex tasted was heat and his own eventual demise.

“You know what?” Poe asked, pulling away and tugging on the hem of his shirt even though there was nothing about him that didn’t scream perfectly presentable at the moment. “I’m gonna leave you to it. Iolo and Karé have a sabacc game going tonight and they’re planning on fleecing Finn and Rey for all their worth. I’d like to get in on some of that action before they both learn all our tells and ruin the fun.” He scratched at his temple. “And make sure Rey comes home with a few credits to her name.”

Terex allowed himself to be distracted. “You think Finn won’t stop her?”

“I _know_ he won’t.”

Terex rolled his eyes and made a shooing gesture. He might not have been willing to admit he was grateful for the chance to regroup, but he was. Mental preparation was key when it came to Poe’s schemes and this one would likely be no different. “Well, then. I suppose you ought to get on with it, shouldn’t you? I still have some work to do after all.”

“Sure, babe,” Poe answered, smooth, knowing. Intentional. “Comm me when you’re done.”

Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. Smooth, knowing, and intentional was nothing Terex hadn’t dealt with before. And hearing the word spoken in such a forced way didn’t feel… well, it didn’t feel _wrong_ the way it had that first time, like the scratch of metal against metal when a ship had taken some damage. Then again, Terex had never been very good with things like affectionate nicknames. Mostly because he’d never experienced one before and also because he found it suspect. He also couldn’t answer, “why now?” which made him cranky. He didn’t like not knowing if he was being manipulated.

But if being obnoxious about it was all Poe had in mind to do to him, Terex figured he was fine.

He’d learned a whole lot about how to handle Poe at his most obnoxious.

Sometimes it was even fun.

*

Poe was shrugging into his flight suit when Terex found him, arms sliding with practiced ease into the sleeves. “Terex,” he said, a polite smile on his mouth as he started the process of smoothing the orange fabric shut over his chest. “Nice of you to join me,” he said, a deliberate provocation.

One that struck home given the circumstances. “Yes, I’m sure.”

“You get me a target?” He snapped his fingers twice and gestured at the datapad in Terex’s hand. His eyes held nothing but serious professionalism and Terex would’ve been impressed if he wasn’t so unimpressed by it.

“Did you think I wouldn’t?” Terex asked, snappish, not quite rude, but close enough to it that Poe stilled while reaching for it.

“Took all night, huh?” Poe asked, sympathetic, grabbing the datapad. His eyes flicked over the report as he bit his lower lip. Terex shifted his weight onto his left, then right leg, and back again as he waited. When Poe looked up again, he scrutinized Terex’s face with the same dedication he’d shown to the datapad. “You look like hell.”

“You know how to flatter a man, I’ll give you that.” But it wasn’t untrue exactly. He felt like hell, eyes gritty, head buzzing, back aching in ways he pretended it didn’t. It made him miss the days when he wasn’t stuck behind a desk all the time. Still, guilt wormed through him at the circumspect-for-Poe question and follow-up statement. “Sorry I didn’t comm you.”

“It’s okay,” he said and Terex knew it was true and hated Poe for it anyway. It wasn’t okay and Terex probably deserved to be chewed out for it. Tapping the datapad against the flat of his palm, Poe added, “Duty calls, yeah? I appreciate you coming through on this.”

The worst part of it was how genuine he sounded about that fact.

“Mmm.” Terex crossed his arms, scuffing the toe of one boot against the hangar bay floor, and asked, gruff, “How was the sabacc game?”

Poe shrugged, glanced at _Black One_ , ready to get going from the looks of it. “Everyone kept the clothes on their back.”

“How unfortunate,” Terex said, deadpan. He wasn’t crass enough to leer, but it was a near thing. Especially knowing that Poe would have laughed at him and punched him in the shoulder and Terex wouldn’t have minded a bit.

Unable to help himself as it was, Poe winked, humor brightening his eyes and the rest of him, too. “Maybe next time.” Bouncing forward on the balls of his feet, he slapped Terex on the arm. “I’ll see you when I get back, right?” Instead of waiting for an answer, Poe turned on his heels and jogged toward his ship, pivoting a few steps into the journey and jogging back. “Here,” he said, handing the datapad back after quickly and expertly pulling the datacard from inside of it. “You might want this. And get some sleep, huh? You’ve got the code to my quarters for a reason.”

Disgruntlement seeped into his bones and settled in for the long haul as Poe sauntered toward his X-wing, his flight suit’s straps swaying around his thighs. He grabbed his flak vest from where it hung on the ladder leading to the cockpit—and why Poe kept it there, Terex had never understood—and slid it across his shoulders. And Terex wasn’t the dumbest man alive by any stretch, but he certainly felt that way as he watched Poe go through his final checks. Left unsure about why he was so annoyed, he was therefore unsure of how to stop it.

Frustrating.

But Poe had always been a frustrating man. Terex just hadn’t ever imagined he’d be more frustrating now that they were… what they were instead of the enemies they were before.

He tried not to assign a word for what it was between them, but—thanks to Poe—he couldn’t help but think of one thing in particular.

 _Babe_.

Whatever they were, they had that between them now and Terex… Terex didn’t like it a bit.

He didn’t like it later when he got the comm message to come down to the hospital level, but that was for another reason entirely.

*

When Terex stepped through the medbay doors, Kalonia glanced up from where she was wrapping a bandage around a wrist—Poe’s wrist, the most important wrist on the base as far as Terex was concerned—and glared at Terex with the withering power of certainty only people who could see Terex for who he was ever truly mastered. If not for his having more important concerns, he might have been taken aback. As it was…

“I didn’t hand you that dossier so that you’d end up injured.”

Poe half-smiled at him, which indicated he either wasn’t amused or he was in enough pain that his normal good cheer and general acceptance of everything and everyone had taken a beating. Terex didn’t think it was the former, so he went full-bore with the latter. “My mistake,” Poe answered, voice threaded through with exhaustion. “I could’ve sworn I saw it in there somewhere.” He looked up at Kalonia and slapped on a bigger smile for her, but it wasn’t any realer than the one he’d given to Terex. “Thanks, doc.”

“Light duty for two full rotations, Commander Dameron,” Kalonia answered, warmer toward Poe than Terex had seen her with anyone except Chewbacca. “And come back tomorrow for one more bacta infusion.”

Poe hopped down off of the bed and turned his head just enough that a long scrape along the side of his face became visible, still red and angry. It gleamed with the pale blue sheen of a recent application of bacta, too, but still. Directionless anger beat about in Terex’s chest at the sight of it. “Did you shoot the bastard down at least?” Terex asked through gritted teeth. The thought of some First Order flunky getting enough of a drop on Poe to get a shot? Unimaginable.

All the more reason to take them out as quickly as possible.

“It’s sweet that you’re worried.” The top half of his flight suit had been tied hastily around his waist, leaving his upper body exposed except for the thin undershirt he always wore. Though he didn’t shiver, it was cold in the medbay and even Terex could see the raised bumps on his arms. He reached for the loose knot Poe had made of his sleeves and freed it, holding them up so Poe could slip into them unencumbered. “But who do you take me for? Of course I got the guy.”

It didn’t make Terex feel all that much better, but it helped a bit. “How’s your ship?”

Poe shrugged and winced at the action, then tried to smother it beneath a frown. “Little banged up. Throw on a fresh coat of paint, she’ll be good as new.”

Terex found that unlikely, but if it made Poe happy to say it, who was he to question it? And anyway, it wouldn’t be Terex cleaning up whatever mess Poe had made of his ship. If there was more to do than what Poe insisted needed to be done, it wasn’t his business.

Which was for the best as far as Terex was concerned. He already had enough to worry about. Definitely.

“Let’s get you back to your quarters, why don’t we?” Terex asked, as agreeable as he knew how to be. Given the circumstances—and the urge to yell currently lodging itself in his throat—he hoped Poe appreciated the restraint. Terex never had been a man who enjoyed showing it after all and he wasn’t even very good at it.

“Sure thing, babe,” Poe said, a little dreamy from the adrenaline crash that was likely at work inside of him. And though Terex wanted to gripe at him for it, he’d spoken in such an offhand manner that Terex was reasonably certain he hadn’t done it on purpose and so couldn’t bring himself to say anything. There was no point complaining when Poe was too banged up to pay attention anyway; he’d wave it off with even less regard than usual.

Terex wouldn’t admit it to anyone, but he was grateful there would _be_ a next time. Whenever Poe came back hurt, he thought as much. And though he didn’t like that particular weakness in the slightest, he’d come to accept it as the price of doing business with a genuinely good man who was committed to his cause.

Poe wasn’t like the other people he associated with, each of whom would have stabbed him in the back if they’d had the chance; if there was one thing he knew, Poe wouldn’t play him the way he’d been played in the past and he’d known that even when they were on opposing sides.

Business, though, was maybe the wrong word for it.

But Terex didn’t have a better one.

Next time though? Next time, he’d make it clear he didn’t want Poe calling him babe anymore. Even though he already had. And it had obviously not stuck. But there was no reason to further muddy the not-quite-businesslike waters between them with endearments. Poe’s term for it. Not his.

No reason at all.

*

When Poe awoke, Terex’s first indication of it was a sharp inhalation, a curse, and a protracted groan that was of the pained variety. “I hate TIE pilots,” he said, audible to Terex even in the ’fresher, which was impressive given how low Poe’s tone was even if he’d kept the door open in case Poe needed something. “And the Resistance. And ever joining the Republic Navy. And being born.” There was a lull in Poe’s dramatic monologue, followed by the sound of the bed squeaking and an _ow, mother—_

“There are some painkillers sitting on that hideous footlocker of yours if you’d stop whining for five seconds,” Terex called back.

“ _Thank_ you!” Poe yelled, not sounding very grateful at all. “It’s called a nightstand.”

“You literally turned your ugly, Navy-issued footlocker on its side and stood it next to your bed. That does not a nightstand make.”

“Let me guess: this is the real reason they call you ‘Lord’ Terex on Kaddak, isn’t it?”

Terex, rolling his eyes, leaned toward the ’fresher mirror and bared his teeth before tugging on the collar of his shirt. _Good enough_ , he thought, knowing there was nothing he’d ever be able to do to impress anyone in the Resistance—not even Poe, who somehow put up with him anyway. Going to lean in the ’fresher doorway, he peered at the man in question. The curls of his hair tangled to one side of his head and there were bags under the bags under his eyes, but he still looked good. “That scrape’s looking okay,” Terex said, drawing his finger down the side of his own face in demonstration. “Did you sleep well?”

“Never better.” He glared at Terex from a half-reclined position as he tore one of the Perigen patches free and slapped it on his neck. The tightness around his eyes eased and he sighed in relief and Terex wouldn’t say that he was glad to see it, but he felt relief at the sight all the same. He pushed himself all the way up, the sheets and scratchy wool blanket pooling around his waist, and dragged his hand over his head, mussing his hair further. Frowning, he asked, “What?”

“What?”

“You’ve got a look on your face.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” And he didn’t. As far as he was concerned, he was looking as normal as he ever did.

“Whatever you say, man,” Poe answered as he flopped back against the bed, hands folding behind his head. “You wanna grab my uniform from the hook for me?”

This time, Terex felt his lip curl into a sneer. He would’ve known exactly what _look_ Poe was talking about if he’d asked now. He still wouldn’t have known why though. It wasn’t like this was the first time Poe had spoken to him this way. And it certainly wasn’t the first time he’d called Terex ‘man’ instead of his name or something else that was less… irreverent.

 _At least he’s not calling you babe,_ he thought, which made him feel not even a little bit better about it.

Another thing they’d have to talk about, he supposed.

But Terex did as he was asked, yanking the uniform free of the length of metal that had been haphazardly welded to the wall outside the ’fresher. Terex still hadn’t figured out if Poe had done it himself and whether he’d gotten permission to do it if so, but it was one of those things he chose to keep a mystery to himself. Sometimes it was fun to speculate about. Walking the uniform over to the bed, he laid it out, the slacks hanging from the end so they wouldn’t wrinkle. Who knew how long it would take Poe to get himself up and moving?

“Thanks,” Poe said without stirring and Terex felt the itch to ask in return: _is that all you have to say?_

In fact, it turned out Terex didn’t have to ask because once Poe finally struggled his way out of bed—with a hand from Terex that he tried not to accept—he didn’t speak about anything at all except every inanity that came into his head from what was likely on the breakfast menu to how nice Terex smelled to how little he was looking forward to light duty. Nonsense, all of it, and none of it what Terex wanted to hear.

Terex put even odds on Poe having done that on purpose.

*

Terex stared up at _Black One_ and decided that Poe was full of shit and Terex should never have gotten involved with him. For one thing, turning his criminal enterprises into a network of information brokers had been—okay, they were already a network of information brokers, so that part hadn’t been hard, but turning them from what would bring him a profit or put him one up on powerful people toward what would bring him positive approval from Poe and an invitation to continue working with the Resistance? _That_ had proved difficult and time consuming. And right now he wasn’t even sure it was worth it.

Significantly more than paint needed to be applied to the ship to make it functional again. In fact, one of the S-foils was almost completely obliterated and the nose was so banged up Terex wasn’t sure how Poe had flown it in a straight line, let alone get it back to base. Carbon scored the length of it on both sides and even the transparisteel of the cockpit had cracked. Whomever had done this hadn’t been some nobody pilot. They’d been good, good enough to almost take Poe out. Or lucky and that was almost worse.

His pulse pounded hard and fast in his throat like his blood wanted nothing more than to punch out of his neck and strangle the person responsible. Which on the face of it was ridiculous. Blood couldn’t do that and Poe had already taken care of the problem himself anyway.

Damn Poe for keeping his office in one of the rooms off the hangar bay. Terex never would have had to see this if he hadn’t chosen such a deplorable location for it. Damn Poe for always being on the frontline of these things. And for good measure: damn Poe for crossing Terex’s path to begin with.

Terex realized he would have put up with any number of _babes_ and _mans_ and Force-forbid _dudes_ if it meant this didn’t happen again.

 _That doesn’t make any sense_ , Terex thought, wild.

He also thought: _it was my intel that got him into this mess in the first place_.

He thought, too: _and I missed this_.

Turning sharp on his heels, he walked away. His boots struck the duracrete floor with enough snap to draw the attention of the nearest nobody in his path. Terex didn’t sneer at him. Terex didn’t look at him at all. But somehow the guy knew to look away, casual as he could, as Terex passed.

Good.

At least something was going right today.

And if he dedicated the rest of the day to hiding in Poe’s quarters, no one was going to hear about it. Not from Mr. Nearest Nobody. He was sure of that.

*

“Missed you at dinner,” Poe said, dragging himself through the door, the bandage around his wrist the first thing to draw Terex’s eye. When Terex looked up at his face though, he saw nothing but weariness, bone-deep, the kind that nothing but rest and relaxation could cure, two things Poe was never likely to get while he kept this job. Terex couldn’t help but wonder what he’d looked like before Terex had gotten tangled up in his life, too.

“No, you didn’t,” Terex answered. He never took dinner in the mess and Poe always did—or mostly did, a form of morale boosting Terex couldn’t be privy to and didn’t particularly want to be. Occasionally, he slipped away to share a meal with Terex while Terex tried to pretend it didn’t usually end up being a highlight of his day. Still, he could understand why Poe did it and why it helped. Just being around Poe made it seem like everything would go your way—and if you were on the same side as him, it became a comfort. Terex would know; he had experience from both ends. He assumed it wasn’t any different for the rest of the people in the Resistance.

Poe sat next to him on the bed and braced his elbows on his knees. “I knew you wouldn’t be there, sure,” he said, sincere, easy. He never had trouble saying what he meant and what he felt. “But I always do. It’s never as much fun without you around.”

“I’m sure your colleagues would disagree.”

Poe batted the suggestion away with his uninjured hand. “Eh, they’d get over it.”

“I don’t think they would.” _And I don’t care if they do_.

“We’re a pragmatic bunch at the end of the day,” Poe insisted. “They’d be civil if you gave them the chance.”

“Is this what you wanted to talk about? My whereabouts at dinner? And whether your colleagues would be ‘civil’ with me or not?”

“Not really. It’s called an icebreaker. You can come to dinner in the mess when you want or not. Makes no difference to me.”

“Oh.” Terex swallowed, surprised, mentally reorganizing his arguments. “Good.” Then: “What do you want to talk about?”

Poe smiled, fond, and grabbed Terex by the back of his neck. His palm was cool against Terex’s skin and caused him to shiver, especially once Poe’s fingers scratched at the protrusion of bone behind his ear. It did nothing, however, to calm Terex down. “I like it when you get suspicious. There’s this vein in your temple that just…” His hand formed a fist and released, fingers spreading wide. “It’s a good look for you.”

Ducking out of reach, Terex got to his feet and crossed his arms, pacing the floor. Scowling, he stared at his feet and did everything in his power to keep from lashing out at his insensible, daredevil of a pilot—

Partner.

Poe’s eyes tracked him across the floor, a cage for Terex in all but name. Poe had almost died. Again. On Terex’s orders. And it wasn’t like before. When it was his _job. W_ hen he’d taken pleasure less in the idea of killing Poe—honestly, the reality of it never crossed his mind except in the abstract, which would’ve been a problem if he’d ever gotten close enough to doing so for it to come up as more than a hypothetical—than in _beating_ him at the only game that had ever mattered. The game that no one else had come close to beating him at. Not like Poe had.

Terex had no control here. Not a single bit of it. He _loathed_ that.

“You know,” Poe said, voice flattening, “you could try telling me what the problem is. If it’s the babe thing—”

“It’s not the—” Groaning, Terex dragged his hand down his face.

“—because I was giving you a hard time with that.” Poe lifted his hands in a display of utter innocence. “I mean, sure. I was planning on being an asshole about it after you bit my head off, but it started out as an accident, not a…”

“It’s not the babe thing!” And though Terex didn’t yell it, he did speak forcefully enough that he startled even himself. “I couldn’t care less what you call me.”

Both of Poe’s eyebrows rose at that. “Yeah, I don’t buy that for a second, but for the sake of argument… what is it then?”

Scoffing, Terex turned away, hunching into himself. It didn’t help and he felt significantly more vulnerable as a result, so he straightened up instead. Made himself stand tall.

“Look,” Poe said, testy, “you don’t have to tell me, but I’m going to have to ask you to tone down the wounded… whatever it is if you’re doing because it’s starting to—”

“You like me,” he answered, short and sharp and a little bit painful, the words spit out like shards of glass instead of formless speech. How he’d never noticed before was… he couldn’t say. It seemed so _obvious_ given the man in question. There wasn’t a subtle bone in Poe Dameron’s body. And yet, it had taken until now for everything to click.

“Uh, yeah. I don’t generally sleep with people I don’t like? It wasn’t a secret.” Poe tilted his head. “It wasn’t supposed to be anyway. You’re kidding me, right? What clued you in that the entirety of our relationship didn’t? I need to know where I’ve been going wrong.”

“The babe thing.” Terex winced. _Don’t call it a relationship, Force have mercy on me. That makes it worse_.

“So when you say this isn’t about the babe thing… it actually is about the babe thing.” Poe crossed his arms, careful to avoid jamming his still bandaged wrist with his action. “Makes perfect sense. Now that that’s resolved, can you get back to being pissy about normal things? I’ll even stop calling you that if it’ll help. You can pretend I hate you if you want. Call it a freebie.”

 _No_.

“No!” _Wait_. “I mean…”

The fact that Poe then proceeded to laugh at him made the whole thing unbearable. It wasn’t a long, drawn out laugh at least, but it was still a laugh and Terex’s cheeks warmed in a way they hadn’t in many, many years; so many, he couldn’t remember the last time he blushed. _It’s not a blush_ , he told himself, firm. Men like Terex didn’t blush.

To add insult to injury, Poe rubbed his knuckle under his eye to brush away nonexistent tears.

“I get it now,” Poe finally said, sobering in a way Terex found disgustingly patronizing. But when he looked up at Terex, there was a hint of something Terex couldn’t identify in his eyes. A seriousness maybe. Or as serious as Poe ever got about things that didn’t involve his work for the Resistance. “The problem here is _you_ like me.”

“I do _no_ —”

Poe raised his hand. “It’s okay. Happens to the best of ’em.” He adopted his self-proclaimed ‘winningest’ smile. “And it wouldn’t be the first time.”

Taking a step back, Terex shook his head and hooked his thumb over his shoulder. “I don’t think there’s enough room in here for me, you, and your ego. Maybe I’ll step outside and pretend this never happened.”

Poe stood up, his legs eating the distance Terex was putting between them at a disturbing speed. And worse, he was _swaggering_ about it. “Aww, don’t be that way, babe.”

There were scowls and there were scowls and Terex had adopted both many times over in his too-long life. This was definitely one of the latter. Not that it stopped Poe from grinning ear-to-ear like he’d gotten everything he ever could have wanted for his name day and more. “Have you lost your mind?”

“Nope.” He got close enough to grab Terex by the shirt and wrap his fingers in the fabric. And as much as Terex wanted to let Poe have his way, he couldn’t. It wasn’t in his nature.

Pushing away, he said, “You could have died.”

And that finally stilled Poe, whose lips were still too close to Terex’s. His eyes flicked to Terex’s mouth. “I didn’t,” Poe said, though he was smiling a whole lot more fondly than he had been a moment ago. And somehow, Terex heard all the shit he wasn’t saying about how _he had to do it_ and _he was always as safe as he could be, he didn’t take risks anymore_ and _it’s not your fault_.

It was insufferable and Terex didn’t want to hear _any_ of it. He also didn’t need to be coddled. And so he leaned in, kissed Poe’s consolations out of his mouth until they were both breathless and Poe was pushing him back toward the door, pushing him back until his shoulder blades were all but biting into the thick slab of metal separating them from the world outside and Poe was pressing himself against Terex’s body, chest to thighs and everything in between.

“You know you’re never gonna hear the end of this, right?” Poe asked, quiet, his teeth scraping against the smooth skin of Terex’s jaw.

Terex’s hands came up to curve against Poe’s sides, his skin warm through the thin linen of his shirt. The back of his head clanged against the door, becuase why not add a head injury to this whole debacle? If he was lucky, he’d forget everything that has happened. “I know.”

“Can you live with that?”

 _No_. “I’ve put up with you this long, haven’t I?”

Poe huffed a laugh and pressed a kiss to his throat, conciliatory. “Yeah,” he said against Terex’s furiously pounding pulse like he was sharing a secret, “I guess you have.”

*

“All in one piece,” Poe yelled from halfway across the tarmac, his arms thrown out, Finn and Rey in tow, the _Millennium Falcon_ a hulking eyesore in the background. Not so unusual, though Terex’s leads usually required a fighter squadron instead of a hunk of garbage. All three of them wore matching, ecstatic expressions, so bright they gave the sun a run for its credits, and even Terex’s presence outside the hangar couldn’t smother their joy. “Babe, you wouldn’t believe it.”

And there went the joy. And most of Terex’s mind, which lost itself to white noise as he—and Finn and Rey, both of whom turned mortified expressions toward one another—realized what Poe had said. Poe was the only one who didn’t seem to notice. Or if he did, he didn’t care. Terex leaned toward the latter, but couldn’t rule out the former.

Terex had a couple of options here and none of them appealed.

So he went with the one that would be most personally satisfying.

“What wouldn’t I believe, sweetheart?” he called back. And though the word felt vile in his mouth—and he never, ever intended to say it again—he had to admit it was worth it for the look of utter demoralization Rey threw his way and the blank stare Finn threw at no one in particular and the cheery roll of Poe’s eyes as they approached. It was followed by vague disapproval and a conceding tilt of the head that, okay, Poe was at fault here and he deserved to bear the repercussions. Even if those repercussions involved being called sweetheart.

Not that he said any of that.

He supposed Finn and Rey could puzzle it out for themselves if they wanted to. Or Poe could apologize to them for being a bastard. It was his choice.

“See you, Poe!” Rey said, quick, acknowledging Terex with a brief nod before veering off in another direction. She dragged Finn along with her by the hand. He, at least, said, “Thanks for the intel, Terex,” with a lot more graciousness than Terex deserved even if he was a little droll about it. 

“If I didn’t know you as well as I do, I’d say you did that on purpose,” Terex said as soon as Finn and Rey were out of earshot.

“Didn’t I?” Poe asked, innocent, slipping his hand into Terex’s because he was an even bigger bastard than Terex had given him credit for.

“Are you on some kind of mission to put me on everyone’s shit list?” he asked, leaning close, well aware that more than a few pairs of eyes belonging to various flight crew members were glaring vibroshivs in Terex’s direction. Their relationship worked because they kept it to themselves, at least as far as the Resistance base was concerned. That fact didn’t bother Terex. “I can do that well enough without your intervention, I’ll have you know.”

Admittedly, he hadn’t asked Poe if it bothered him. Maybe he should have.

“My partner just helped us destroy a First Order supply line,” Poe said, unconcerned with the attention. “He’s helped us take out more than that in the last few years. And he _likes_ me.” He squeezed Terex’s hand as though to illustrate his point. “Forgive me if I’d like to show him a public display of affection or two.”

“You like annoying people.”

“Nah.” Poe leaned hard into Terex’s side. “I like annoying you. Big difference.”

Terex hummed in agreement, allowing Poe this victory. And if the slide of Poe’s palm against his own felt nicer than he’d ever confess under any circumstances, well, Poe would probably figure it out anyway, but he might let Terex keep this illusion.

Maybe.

Hopefully.

If Terex was lucky.

And if he wasn’t, it wouldn’t be the worst embarrassment Terex had ever faced at Poe’s hands.

**Author's Note:**

> This is all [perlaret’s](http://archiveofourown.org/users/perlaret/pseuds/perlaret) fault. I never would have given established relationship, domestic-y Poe/Terex a second thought otherwise. And that’s the honest truth.


End file.
